My imaginary friend from childhood, Mr. Pegasus, continues to inspire me to dream, to write, and not to give up. Just as his ancient Greek counterpart, he continues to send me my muses. It's up to me to ride the winged horse.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Ramblings on Reading and Writing

I just tried to read some recommended flash fiction and got frustrated with clumsy sentence structure in the first paragraph. Instead of finishing the online short fiction piece, I jumped down to the comments, most of which raved about how "lovely" the piece was.

Is it just me? Am I a reading snob? Or just impatient? My unwritten rule is if I have to reread two sentences within a paragraph in order to glean the meaning, I needn't traverse further.

But I'm mournful about what I may have missed. Others found the piece to be delightful. Maybe they were just being nice? I'll never know, because ... well because I have an unwritten rule that I just put into writing.

Dear Writers: ENGAGE ME in the first paragraph... please!

This is easy for me to say because I have officially sworn off writing. I already blogged about it (http://jackiedoss.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/i-have-sworn-off-writing/), so it must be true. I do not have to live up to my own standards. Ahh, the taste of freedom! At this moment, it tastes like warm yeast rolls right out of the oven, with a dab of butter.

4 comments:

Maybe swearing off writing will be the force blowing off the stopper and it will pour out. I love your last sentences about the freedom which is like warm yeast rolls . . .

I don't think the flowers I shot were Texas bluebonnets so hopefully we won't be attacked by angry Texans (scary thought, ha). They may be blue boneset. Here's a link in case you are interested in all the NC wildflowers that have been planted through the years and nairy a Texan in the lot. NC Highway Wildflowers

This would probably be a bad time to tell you that right around the time I stood in front of the altar at First Lutheran San Diego and solemnly promised God I was done with dating, mating, or anything remotely resembling the potential swapping of bodily fluids with another human being, Joan moved in next door to me. Damned inconvenient, that.

Jackie - Bill here. When reading your email, my curiosity got the better of me and I hopped over to your blog. What a delight to discover we are even more kindred spirits than I suspected. I can't in good conscience call myself a writer or copy editor. I'm far more a wannabe than you, but I do have aspirations to become better at both endeavors.

At present, I'm more accomplished as a proof reader/editor than a writer. That may in no small part be because I've done a lot more of that! Most of my life I really wanted to be a "big picture" guy - 'cause that's so cool in most circles. Several years ago I faced reality and admitted I'm really a "details" guy. I can be downright anal about some of the errors I see in most writing. On the other hand, I have a LOFT problem when it comes to writing. (In case you are unfamiliar with LOFT, it's an acronym for "Lack Of Freakin' Talent".) Be that as it may, I still have every intention of writing a book. So far I've identified the topic! Now all I need is "the details"!

I've enjoyed reading your various blog entries. You do have talent. Your relaxed, candid conversational style is very engaging. The logical flow of your thoughts is refreshing, especially when one considers how rare that seems to be these days.

I smiled when I read your comment on "its" vs. "it's". So many people are ignorant of the difference. Another thing that sets my teeth on edge is the misuse of "your" and "you're". If I had a nickel for every time I encounter that...

I'd love to see more of your work some day. Keep blogging, and I'll keep dropping by every now and again. Cheers!